Wizard World Comic Con: A Nerd’s Dream Come True

If any of you have read some of my previous work, you quickly caught onto the nerdy spirit that is forever growing inside of me. I’m quite proud of my nerdiness, and I show off my love for comics, Doctor Who, and video games in a multitude of ways. One way that I choose to let my nerd flag fly is by going to comic cons, a place where nerds from almost every fandom come together in harmony to show their passion for all things nerdy, geeky, and sometimes freaky.

The past weekend, Wizard World Comic Con graced our very own Austin Convention Center, and let me tell you, it was magical. (Ha, see what I did there? Wizard World? Magical? I swear I’m funny.) For three straight days, my boyfriend and I walked the floors of this convention center and were in awe by all that we saw.

From beautiful artwork to cosplayers galore Wizard World Austin was an event that shouldn’t have been missed by anyone who is a part of the nerd community. Here are some of the parts of the convention that really stood out to me, and made the convention worthwhile.

At every convention, artists set up to sell prints of amazing artwork that they spent hours making.One artist I talked to spent about 30 hours on just one print! I was stunned by how talented these people were, so stunned that I had trouble picking out the few prints that I wanted to take home with me. Walking down Artists’ Alley without buying something from almost every booth I passed by turned out to be quite troublesome for me. I wanted to fill my wall with artwork from people who loved these characters as much as I did. By the time I had walked around the tables a few dozen times and cried about how I wanted one of everything I ended up deciding on four prints from a very lovely woman named, Jenny Wang, at $5 a piece! The four prints were of: Rogue and Gambit (“X-Men”), baby Groot (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Starlord (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), and a Little Sister with a Big Daddy (“Bioshock”).

Photo by Taylor Boswell

The plushies

Another thing you guys should know about me is that I LOVE plushies. I have about 30 or more on my bed as I type this out, and I know that this number will continue to expand until I have no more room on my bed and am forced to sleep on the floor so my plushies can sleep soundly. The great thing about conventions is that they usually have plushies that are terribly hard to find anyplace else without having to pay an arm and a leg for shipping costs. Wizard World had so many plushies I wanted to buy one of everything. They had alpacas, Super Mario Bros., Pokemon, Tentacle Kitty, Legend of Zelda… basically anything your little nerd heart could desire. Even though I probably shouldn’t have, I ended up buying an alpaca…. I couldn’t resist! IT HAS LITTLE EAR MUFFS AND POLKA DOTS.

The swords and shields

Who here has played a Legend of Zelda game and thought to themselves, “Man, I wish I had a Hylian Shield”? (You can’t see me right now, but I’m raising my hand.) Wizard World Austin had a vast array of shields and swords and blades from video games like Legend of Zelda, Halo, and Kingdom Hearts. So if you guys ever wanted to have a sword fight like you have in your favorite video games, you should look into going to Wizard World next year.

The celebrity guests

Although I did not pay for a photo-op like I did last year when I met Norman Reedus (aka Daryl Dixon from “The Walking Dead”), the celebrity aspect of the con is still pretty cool. Every year a group of celebrities go on tour with Wizard World, and convention goers have the chance to get their autograph, a photo-op with them, or spend the day with them through VIP passes. It’s an amazing experience, and a great time to fangirl/fanboy like you’ve never fangirled/fanboyed before.

Boswell cosplays as Misty from “Pokemon” and poses with a fellow cosplayer dressed as Madoka from the anime “Puella Magi Madoka Magica.” Photo courtesy of Taylor Boswell.

The cosplays

I am always delighted to see people dress up in something they made themselves to prove how much a character means to them. This past weekend was full of people in amazing costumes that made me jump up and down with joy. (No, really, I saw a girl dress up as Madoka from the anime “Puella Magi Madoka Magica,” and I actually started jumping up and down and gushing about how she made my whole day.) One of my favorite moments was when I ran into a group of people all dressed up as different versions of Wolverine, and I was able to get a picture with them while I was in my Rogue costume. (Us X-Men gotta stick together, you know!) The hard work put into these cosplays was apparent, and it made every walk through the convention fun because you were constantly seeing a new costume that made you drop your mouth open in awe.

If you didn’t make it out to Wizard World this year, I highly hope you will consider going next year so you can experience the happiness that I did this past weekend. If you do decide to go, you won’t regret it; I swear on my plushies.